Southold Town is exploring possible legal action against the Federal Aviation Administration for its decision to summarily extend through 2020 the north shore helicopter route which has been funneling virtually all NYC-Hamptons helicopter traffic over the North Fork since 2012.
The FAA published a final rule in the July 25 Federal Register extending the route for four years, surprising residents, local elected official and even the East End congressman, Rep. Lee Zeldin.
“It appears at this point the only public input they’ve received was from the Eastern Region Helicopter Council and a U.S. senator who’s trying to appease the large population up west,” Supervisor Scott Russell said during a town board work session, after the board met in executive session with an attorney who is counsel to the town helicopter committee.
Sen. Chuck Schumer “has long supported and fought for an all-over-water north shore helicopter route that would extend the current route past Orient Point and around Plum Island, as well as the establishment of an all-over-water south shore route,” his spokesperson Marisa Kaufman said. “He continues to strongly urge the FAA to expand the current north shore route —ASAP — to help the thousands of East End residents who are continuously burdened by the constant drone of helicopter noise and will work with all concerned residents to make that happen,” Kaufman said.
A representative of the Eastern Region Helicopter Council could not immediately be reached for comment.
The FAA declined to comment on the matter, a spokesperson said.
The lawyer, James Harmon Jr. of Southold was appointed by the board to the town’s Helicopter Noise Steering Committee last month to serve as counsel to the committee at no compensation.
Acting on Harmon’s advice, Councilman Bob Ghosio, who is the town board liaison to the helicopter committee, read a statement prepared by the attorney expressing Southold Town’s strong objection to the FAA’s action, taken without the 30-day comment period required by the Federal Administrative Procedure Act. The agency justified dispensing with the comment period by saying it did not want to confuse helicopter pilots mid-season.
The summary action “deprived Southold of its due process right to be heard before the FAA decided to extend the time duration of the route,” the statement read by Ghosio said. It also violated a presidential executive order requiring the agency to consult with town officials before extending the route. And, according to the town, the action “deprived the citizens of Southold their individual right to petition the government,” as guaranteed by the First Amendment.
Harmon told the FAA’s contact person on July 13 that the Southold Town Board would be discussing the extension of the rule, which was set to expire Aug. 6, at today’s meeting and would be communicating its position to the agency after today’s meeting. He expressed the hope that the FAA would take the opportunity to consider Southold’s views before making any decision on extension and adopting a final rule, Harmon said.
“But they went ahead and did this yesterday,” Harmon said.
“If the FAA didn’t want to confuse pilots, they could have handled this with a much shorter extension, say six months,” Ghosio said. “But four years? Extending it four years without comment is beyond comprehension to me, especially with the rationale they didn’t want to confuse the pilots mid-season. Something happened here. I just don’t know what,” he said.
Harmon was asked by the board to explore the legal implications of the FAA’s failure to listen to the people of Southold through their representatives and to do any investigation to “develop facts to support reconsideration” of the extension.
Russell said he will reach out to the East End supervisors and mayors to garner support. He has indicated in the past that the towns may need to bring legal action to resolve the helicopter problem for local residents.
